Lav's Music Corner

Mark Kozelek is a San Francisco based singer/songwriter who fronted two hugely acclaimed slowcore bands in Red House Painters and Sun Kil Moon before a major change in his sound came just a few years ago. Since Mark switched to a predominate spoken word almost stream of consciousness style songwriting in 2016 he has split critics down the middle regarding his music as he has prolifically dropped albums with a number of collaborators and under a few different names.  Review by Lavender: If my consistent praise towards Mark over the past four years has been any indication of my standing regarding the split in opinion on his new music, I am firmly in the camp who loves it. Year after year Mark has dropped some of my favorite records like clockwork from Jesu/Sun Kil Moon  to  Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood , Mark Kozelek  and even just 6 months ago with Joey Always Smiled  we have never been short of good Koz projects over the past few years. I th...

Mark Kozelek is a long running and prolific American singer-songwriter who fronted Red House Painters in the 90's and continues to front Sun Kil Moon to this day. He has released music increasingly frequently since 2016 and dropped two full length records last year, with even more potentially on the horizon this year. This is a sequel to his collaboration with Ben Boye and Jim White from 2017. Review By Lavender: My love for Mark Kozelek's music is no secret, just last month I listed two Sun Kil Moon records, 2014's Benji  and 2016's Common As Light And Love Are Red Valleys Of Blood  on my best albums of the decade list. And last year Mark's collaboration with Petra Haden of The Decemberists fame landed in the top 15 of my favorite albums of the year. I don't really consider the first in this series among Mark's best work but I was excited for the sequel nonetheless. With more indulgent songwriting than ever before and a continued insistence on stripp...

Mark Kozelek is an Ohio born and San Francisco based singer-songwriter who first gained recognition as the frontman of legendary slowcore band Red House Painters. Since the disbanding of that group Mark has released a ton of records many under how own name, many under the Sun Kil Moon moniker and many collaborations with a number of other musicians like Jesu, Jimmy Lavalle, Desertshore, Ben Boye, Jim White, Sean Yeaton and now violinist Petra Haden of The Decemberists fame. Review By Lavender: It's not a secret that I have loved just about everything Mark Kozelek has ever done, and the prolific recent era of his career is no different. He has released an absolute ton of music over the past few years and there has been no shortage of his monologues, observations. and stories for him to tell. Earlier this year I dished out a lot of praise to his Sun Kil Moon record I Also Want To Die In New Orleans  where he played part time animal expert and part time political observes over ...